Category: Marine Corps Stories

OUR SHREDDED FLAG

By Colonel Paul F. Dudley
USMC (WWII) USAF (Ret)

I am a United States of America shredded flag.
I fly from the roof of many typical American homes.
Some time ago, I was new and radiant when they placed me there,
But the wind and rain have reduced me to strings of red, white, and blue.
Sometimes I fly from vehicles until I am torn to shreds;
Though I still wave proudly, and can be recognized, I need replaced,
And here is why: read more

HQ Company Ninth Marine Regiment Third Marine Division RVN

Sgt. Grit,

Thank you and your staff for all they do for our veterans.  I look forward to reading all the submissions to your newsletter, this is a great service that you provide.  I like especially that your website offers links to help veterans and also helps us locate old friends. There is a special bond that exist between veterans that only grows greater as we age.  Our Headquarters Company 9th Marine Regiment 3rd Marine Division RVN 65-69 will be holding its 4th reunion  in San Diego, CA. April 12-14, 2011.  Our fellowship this year includes a trip to MCRD San Diego; when we visited Paris Island in 2009 our tour bus stopped behind the “yellow foot prints” where our “not so lean” took position on those famous prints.  There was a platoon of newly formed recruits standing across the way and I wonder what was going through their mind as they witnessed us forming up, I know their Drill Instructor got a chuckle out of it. read more

Parris Island 29 years later

Dear Sgt. Grit,

My family and I were in Hilton Head, SC last week on vacation when I decided that I had to visit Parris Island. I had not been there since I stood on the yellow footprints in June of 1982 and I figured I'd go back and see what they'd done with the place since I left. My wife, also known as "the Sergeant Major" and 2 of my daughters decided to tag along as well. read more

Bad Night In Ras Al Mishab

March 21, 1991. 4:45am, Gulf War, Ras Al Misab, Kicker Station on the GSG-2 Fuel Farm, 8th Eng Spt BN, 2nd FSSG, 2 MEF,  Cpl. Mallory and I (Cpl. Hoskinson)  had been at the station for the last three days, decompressing, working and feeling better after the cease fire of the ground war.  The station was located on the outside of the Saudi airfield fence, just a pump and a cramped bunker located between the fuel farm and the dispersion point.  The night was smoky and the airfield was still under blackout.  Whenever something needed to land, the craft would buzz the tower, the lights would go on, they would land and the lights would switch off.  A Saudi C-130 buzzed the tower and no one turned on the lights.  The plane banked and attempted to land, putting a wing into the ground, sliding in our direction.  All I remember is seeing a flash of sparks and hearing what sounded like a thousand tin cans rolling around.  We hopped into the bunker and prayed.  It stopped short of the fence and we called for help.  No one would believe us.  We got out and started running to the crash when the mess just exploded.  Rounds started cooking off , we picked ourselves up and went back to the bunker.  Behind the bunker, not in.  We wanted a bouble wall between us and the crash.  That puppy burned and there was no emergancy response from the airfield.  Things quieted down and we heard the pilots pounding on the cockpit windows.  Help finally arrived and they pulled the pilots out.  In the end, all that was left was the tail section, the cockpit windows and the nose.  We found out later that the plane was carring Sengalese troops who were returning form a trip to Mecca.  All 92 died plus the six Saudi air crew.  I've seen a little summary of this event on Wikkipedia, but I thought I'd share my story with my fellow Marines  on Grumpy's… P.S.  Mallory passed away in the Fall of 1999… read more